The present invention relates, in general, to a golf device and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for reading golf greens.
For many golfers, putting is a source of reoccurring frustration. Poor putting can quickly add unnecessary strokes to a player's score during an otherwise well played round of golf. Even the best players can lose a round of golf because of a missed putt. As the often-quoted phrase goes, “Drive for show and putt for dough.”
Often, the cause of poor putting is misreading the green. Putting greens are designed with contours of varying degrees of slopes to make putting a challenge for golfers, as well as for drainage purposes. Once a player's ball is on the green, he or she must navigate the correct path between the ball and the cup simply by looking at the putting green. To add to the confusion, many golf courses move the cup every few days to different positions on the green. Therefore, most putts are unique shots that present another opportunity for misreading the green. Some courses have caddies available at a considerable cost that are experienced in reading a particular course's putting greens. However, most courses do not provide caddies and the cost can be prohibitive at those that do. This leaves the challenge of reading greens to the players themselves.
Many different devices and techniques exist to aid the golfer with reading greens. To gauge the direction and degree of slope in a putting green, many golfers use the putter as a plumb bob sighting device by holding the handle at arm's length between thumb and index finger whereby the club assumes a generally vertical position due to the weight of the club head. In addition to this method, a number of portable sighting devices have been developed for golfers. However, all these previous devices have various drawbacks and shortcomings. For example, many devices use a mechanical leveling means, such as a bubble indicator, plumb bob, or crosshair that requires the user to manually align a bubble, bob, pendulum, or crosshair. However, such designs depend on the ability of the golfer to “line up” the device using various mechanical means, which introduce large tolerances and make the devices susceptible to human error.
Accordingly, there is a need for a inexpensive and easy to use device that is provides a reference line by which a golfer can read the slope of the green.